"I think I forgot sothing."
Hilia, having left Southern Border City, took out her magic staff and stared blankly at the vacant spot inside the ring.
"I still haven’t sorted out the magic crystal of my staff."
Rose said, "It’s a minor issue. With the Eye of the Sea Siren, it doesn’t affect your use. It just ans you can’t overdraw the magic crystal’s power."
Hilia fell silent, then after a mont asked, "If I overdraw the magic crystal, can I defeat a Tier Four Mage?"
"No. You can only beat a pseudo-Tier Four. If you want to defeat a true Tier Four, you need to reach late Tier Three."
"Late stage?"
"When you start preparing for the Tier Four ascension ritual."
"Is the gap really that big?"
Even though she’d witnessed the might of the Bluewing Seahorse, Hilia still felt that reaching Tier Three would surely let her easily beat pseudo-Tier Four, and if she went all out (aning Lord Evil God steps in for her), she might even defeat Tier Four.
"You’ve fought so many Tier Three mages—haven’t you realized the difference between Tier Two and Tier Three isn’t all that huge?" Rose retorted.
"Yeah, I noticed." Hilia nodded.
The magic power levels between Tier Two and Tier Three aren’t that different, nor is the difference in spell power.
But the gigantic Ice Spikes unleashed by Rose using up all the magic crystal’s power, as well as that freezing chill that immobilized everything, were dozens of tis stronger than any Tier Three magic Hilia had seen.
A qualitative leap.
"Tier Four mages using low-tier magic have a qualitative change, so before you reach late Tier Three, don’t even think about going up against Tier Four. Call in a Tier Four Mage from the Holy Court to deal with them—that’s the safest bet."
Hilia nodded, then suddenly thought of sothing and asked in confusion, "Wait, Lord Rose, you said the Deep Sea Mutual Aid Association might deploy a Tier Four against this ti. If I can’t beat them, why did I co out here?"
Rose replied indifferently, "Because Southern Border City is under curfew—they can’t get in at night."
Hilia: "...So I can’t just wait until dayti to co out?"
"Much easier to run at night." Rose smiled faintly.
Hilia: "..."
After leaving Southern Border City, Hilia randomly picked a direction and flew for half an hour, then stopped by a small river.
Rose’s phantom appeared. "This is about right. Let’s stay here."
"Got it."
Following instructions, Hilia stopped. Looking at the clear river, she couldn’t help herself—she went to the riverbank, sat on a big rock, and using the glow from her staff, took off her shoes and soaked her feet.
A few tiny fish, barely the size of a pinky, gathered round and nibbled at her toes, making her feel ticklish.
The girl couldn’t help but laugh.
"Mr. Rose, this river feels so nice! Want to try soaking too?"
Rose glanced at her but said nothing, simply taking out several strange stones etched with runes.
But after thinking for a mont, he put them away again.
"This place isn’t suitable."
Saying this, he instructed Hilia, "You stay here and don’t move; I’m going to set up the array."
"Okay!"
Enjoying her foot soak, Hilia nodded in agreent.
At that mont, the ti was approaching nine o’clock. There was no moon tonight, and both the sky and the earth were shrouded in darkness.
After soaking her feet, Hilia put her shoes back on, but suddenly felt the surroundings were too quiet.
A sense of unease crept into her mind.
She packed up her bag, took out a few support scrolls, and used them on herself, forming a surrounding rock shield.
"Where’s Lord Rose?"
Hilia looked up—she saw no magic puppet, nor did she sense Rose at all.
The area around the river was a rolling grassland, scattered with a few small trees—no cover anywhere, the view wide open.
This was a carefully chosen spot, ant to spot enemies early.
But right now...
She tried to sense the positions of Rose and the magic puppet. The magic puppet registered a faint, intermittent signal, but Rose was completely absent.
No matter how you looked, it felt wrong.
"Did I just get tricked?"
The girl’s heart started pounding.
Grabbing her staff, she prepared to run toward the direction she sensed for the magic puppet.
Just then, Rose’s figure suddenly flashed before her.
"What are you doing?"
"Ah, Lord Rose."
Hilia breathed a sigh of relief. "I couldn’t sense you just now—I thought I got hit by so enemy spirit magic."
"That was my array."
Rose spoke as he strengthened the connection with Hilia, sharing everything about the array with her.
"This array is called the Dragon-Caging Array. I used it once to ta dragons."
"Lord Rose, you’ve tad dragons?"
"If you study history, you’ll find that in the era when dragons were active, no hero lacked a dragon as their mount."
"That must’ve looked epic..."
"It was epic, yeah, just dragons were too large—not really convenient."
Rose shook his head, clearly not wanting to linger on this topic. He said, "All right, grab your scrolls—get ready for the enemy."
Rose’s figure gradually faded away. Hilia found a clear spot and sat down, beginning her ditation.
"Am I being too obvious here, like I’m literally waiting for them to co?"
"Obvious is good. Take the Heart of the Magic Puppet and hold it on your fingertip—input a bit of spiritual power, that’s best."
"Okay."
Hilia took out the Sea God Divine Fragnt, held it on her fingertip, and infused it with a trace of spiritual power. The fragnt slowly floated in her hand, emitting a faint deep-blue glow.
Hilia felt a peculiar resonance with this Heart of the Magic Puppet, as if a voice inside it was calling to her.
But the voice felt like an illusion—she couldn’t make it out clearly.
Just as she was about to listen more closely, Rose’s voice sounded in her ear: "Don’t respond, just listen."
Hilia snapped back to attention and patted her chest.
She didn’t know what would happen if she really listened, but it definitely wouldn’t be good.
She distracted herself by opening her wristband, glancing at the ti, and suddenly froze.
"How did an hour just go by?"
It was now ten o’clock at night.
If Hilia rembered right, when she was about to look for Rose, it was just past nine.
"Normal, but not a bad thing. Feel your spiritual power."
Hilia complied and sensed it—her spiritual power seed to have grown a bit.
"So listening to the Heart of the Magic Puppet’s voice actually helps with spiritual power?"
"Yes, but only a few Hearts of the Magic Puppet do." Rose nodded.
And only people who maxed out their Divine Contract can benefit, he added silently.
The reason her spiritual power grew was the Divine Fragnt carrying out the Sea God’s will, reshaping the spiritual power of a suitable vessel for the Sea God’s descent—trying to make it easier for the Sea God to descend. In the process, spiritual power gradually increases.
If Hilia tried listening more closely, then the Divine Fragnt would begin reshaping her spiritual power and soul—a process beyond most people’s ability to use.
Just as Hilia was about to keep sensing the Divine Fragnt boosting her spiritual power, everything around her suddenly stirred without wind.
All around, dozens of blue-robed heretics quietly appeared, surrounding Hilia.
"Finally here."
The girl took up her staff and stood.
An eerie laughter echoed from sowhere unknown.
"Hehehehehehehehehe... the perfect prey..."
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